Indian stock market daily morning report (January 09, 2014, Thursday)

- Markets gained for the first time in 2014, amid a range bound trading session, snapping a five-day losing streak led by Reliance Industries and IT major TCS. Meanwhile, upside gains were capped as sales by foreign institutional investors in the previous three sessions weighed on investor sentiment.

The 30-share Sensex gained 36 points to end at 20,729 and the 50-share Nifty gained 12 points to end at 6,175.

- Shares of six PSU companies rose by 1.35% to 7.8- on BSE in anticipation of hefty dividend announcement by these companies.

- MCX rose 2.04%, in the early trade, to Rs 604.45 on BSE, extending Tuesday's 3.66% rise triggered by Blackstone on Monday, 6 January 2014, acquiring 2.79% stake in MCX for around Rs 81 crore on BSE.

- Maruti Suzuki India lost 0.56% to Rs 1,836.10 on BSE after the company said that its production fell 6.8% to 80,69- units in December 2013 over December 2012.

- Ranbaxy Laboratories closed 1.45% down at Rs 474.00 on BSE after the company said it received an approval to manufacture and market RAN-Donepezil Hydrochloride tablets in Canada.

- Among the 12 BSE Sectoral Indices - sectors closed in positive while 4 sectors ended the day in negative. Top Gainers: BSE Heqalthcare up by 1.04% and BSE Auto by 0.70%. Top Losers: BSE Capital Goods down by 1.35% and BSE Consumer Durables by 0.58%.

Market breadth was positive at ~1.40 as investors bought large cap stocks. On provisional basis, FII's bought Rs 0.80bn worth of Indian equities and DII's sold Rs 0.88bn worth of equities.

Economic and Corporate Developments

- Government decided to retain the policy of allowing 100% foreign investment in the existing pharma firms, brushing aside concerns about non- availability of affordable drugs in view of MNCs takeovers.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said however that as far as the contentious issue of noncompete clause is concerned; the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will take a view on it on case-by-case basis.

Buzzing Stocks

- Mastek closed 8.71% up at Rs 199.00 on BSE, with the stock extending recent rally triggered by the company's board mulling a proposal to buyback equity shares of the company.

- Oil India and Videocon Industries rose by 0.48% to 2.36%, respectively, in the early trade, on BSE after Oil India completed the acquisition of Videocon Group's 10% stake in a giant gas field off Mozambique.

- RPP Infra Projects closed 1.88% down at Rs 60.00 on BSE, with the stock sliding on profit booking after recent rally triggered by the company recently securing new orders in Tamil Nadu.

- Sadbhav Engineering closed 0.82% up at Rs 92.00 on BSE, with the stock extending Tuesday's 0.77% gains triggered by the company's SPV for a highway project in Haryana achieving commercial operations date.

- Prestige Estates Projects jumped 4.25%, in the early trading, to Rs 159.50 on BSE after the company said its real estate sales rose 24.69% to Rs 940.20 crore in Q3 December 2013 over Q3 December 2012.

- Aban Offshore closed 1.91% up at to Rs 432.15 on BSE after the company said it received a contract worth approximately Rs 380 crore to deploy jack-up rig offshore Vietnam for a firm period of 1 year.

- Gillette India closed 4.25% down at Rs 2,111.80 on BSE after the company clarified that it has no plans for an open offer or delisting.

- Coal India closed 4.77% up at Rs 288.75 on BSE after the company said its board will meet on 14 January 2014, to consider payment of interim dividend, if any, for the year ending 31 March 2014.

- Titagarh Wagons closed 6.03% up at Rs 126.65 on BSE after the company said it divested its entire holding in Barrackpore Enterprises on 31 December 2013.

- Rural Electrification Corporation closed 3.05% up at Rs 209.30 on BSE, with the stock recovering on bargain hunting after 5-day 7.89% slide.

- Technofab Engineering closed 5.94% up at Rs 82.00 on BSE after the company said it is participating in executing two new orders aggregating about Rs 320 crore.

- Omax Autos closed 14.00% up at Rs 45.20 on BSE after the company said its board will meet on 16 January 2014 to consider the merger of four closely held companies with the company.

- Cadila Healthcare jumped 4.91% to Rs 845.75 on BSE after a foreign brokerage upgraded the stock to "buy" from "underperform".